Gatekeepers

by Sam Ferguson

  After things settled down a bit, I tried to look into the ambush in California. I was more than a little shocked to see that the news had reported a residential gas leak and explosion. Seemed a bit far-fetched that none of the neighbors had come forward to talk about what they had seen or heard, but I guess sometimes the best option, even for Section Four, is to help with memory wiping. It was comforting to know that they didn’t just let Briggs run around and put people down when big incidents occurred. Though, thinking back on how he seemed to enjoy himself in that dingy motel room in Texas, I bet Briggs wouldn’t have a problem with sweeping a whole neighborhood.

  The story behind Rathison’s mansion was far more plausible. The official story was that somehow the rocket he was designing had malfunctioned and launched early, causing widespread fires and damage to the building and grounds. Officially, no bodies were recovered at the scene after the Forest Service was called in to put out the fires before they spread outward to surrounding forests.

  A billionaire dead. Apocalypse averted. Family safe.

  Finally, everything I had gone through in Dallas seemed worth it. I’m not saying I would jump back into the same alley if I had a time machine… but it was worth it.

  As for the harbinger wolves, well, Indyrith had recovered the red sword of oaths from the cruise ship. He held onto it until after we had averted the disaster with the trans-dimensional unification engine so I wouldn’t be distracted. Then, he gave it to me.

  I looked at it, sitting in my room with the door closed. I knew what it was for. If Drendarin’s necklace could connect me with that particular drakkul, then this sword would connect me with the family that it belonged to.

  I closed my eyes and felt the familiar rush of air around my body.

  When I opened my eyes, I was in the dream world, but more than that, I was in a massive cave lit by several bonfires and torches. A host of harbinger wolves were gathered together, dancing around the fire and feasting upon raw flesh strewn about along long slabs of stone that had been carved to serve as tables.

  At the far end of the cavern I saw a harbinger wolf bigger than any other I had seen to that point. His fur was black, and his muscles looked like the kind of bulging mounds you would see in comic books. He sat upon a throne of bones and watched as the others danced and ate. He was the alpha. Their king.

  I waited for several hours until the large beast took two of the females back to his room. Once they settled in for the night, lying upon a bed of hides that would make a Safari hunter green with envy, I entered the room.

  As a child, I may have been the one they hunted, but now I was grown. It was my turn to do the hunting. I focused my mind until I was able to make the connection with the alpha. Then, I slipped into his dreams. I watched at first, soaking in what the alpha had for a pleasant dream. There were fields with endless game. Harbinger wolves roamed freely, hunting and eating their fill. Young wolf pups played in the tall grasses and chomped on long-stemmed daisies. The king sat upon a mound of stones and laughed as some of the younger harbinger wolves tumbled into a nearby stream and then turned to trying to catch fish in their mouths.

  Indyrith had prepared me for this, saying that once I got into the minds of my enemies, I would see that their inner desires matched my own. The only real difference was what they were willing to do to accomplish their desires. I understood what he meant when he said it, but seeing this monster dreaming about having what essentially amounted to a large family picnic was intriguing.

  Still, I had not come to enjoy the view. I had come to give the king nightmares.

  I walked in from the grass and swung my sword, not the mithril blade that Drendarin had given to me, that was hanging in Indyrith’s room. I was back to using the sword I had conjured up for myself, the same one that the old Cherokee man had engraved with sacred symbols. In order to ensure the safety of my world, I was now going to use it to put fear into the hearts of every harbinger wolf. They were going to shrink at the mention of my name from this night forward.

  I walked up to the first harbinger wolf and cut off its head. A chorus of screams and snarls rose up all around. The pups yipped and ran in all directions. The males snarled and charged. This time I had no fear for my safety, for there was only one harbinger wolf here who could really fight back, and he was currently asleep, trapped in his own dream. I cut down seven more harbinger wolves before turning to walk toward the alpha. On my way, I snatched up one of the pups and held it upside-down by its rear left leg. I put the tip of my blade to its throat. It looked at me with terrible fear in its eyes and I almost shrank away from my plan. I had to force myself to remember that none of these images were real. I could slay or mutilate any harbinger wolf in the dream except for the alpha himself and no real harm would come to any living soul. They were just part of the alpha’s dream.

  I steeled my gaze on the alpha and set my jaw, displaying far more confidence and hatred than I truly felt.

  “What do you want? Who are you?” the alpha said in a voice that trembled with each word.

  “Do you know my name?” I asked.

  The alpha eyed me up and down for a moment. Anger threatened to rise in the monster’s eyes, but then the realization of who stood before him dawned on him, and his anger was entirely replaced by fear. His eyes flashed wide and his lower jaw quivered. “You are the dream walker,” the alpha said with a nod.

  “Then you know what I am capable of, don’t you?” I pressed the tip of my sword to the pup’s chest. It yipped and struggled. The alpha jumped up.

  “No, please! I’ll do anything you want.”

  I nodded. “I want your name,” I said.

  “I am Kuwam, the Alpha,” the king said.

  “Kuwam, I have two options for you to choose from,” I said. I let my sword disappear and I pulled the bright red sword of oaths into the nightmare. The alpha’s eyes locked onto the blade. “You recognize this?”

  Kuwam nodded. “My sons made an oath with that sword.”

  “And when they tried to hunt me and my family, I killed them,” I finished.

  Kuwam snarled. “I could fight you here!”

  I roared, giving my best impression of a lion. The fact that I was in the dream world helped me amplify the effect. The lush fields burned around us, turning to gray, dull ash in a matter of seconds. Many of the harbinger wolves perished in the fires, leaving only the alpha, me, and the pups. All of the younglings, except the one I held, gathered around the alpha’s feet.

  “I think you will find that a quick battle, and you will not be the victor,” I said.

  “What are your options?” Kuwam asked.

  “The first is to take this sword and make a blood oath that you and your descendants will never come to my world again. You will not haunt the dreams of my world. You will not sneak into my world. You will not harm another person on my world.”

  “No, such an oath is too much!” Kuwam said.

  I tossed the red sword toward him. It spun gracefully and stuck in the dirt before him.

  “The second option is that I visit your world every night. I will stalk your pups in the shadows. I will slay your females in the night. I will cut down your warriors in their nightmares, and I will start with you, right here, and right now.”

  “No,” Kuwam said. “You are not like us. You are a human. You wouldn’t wage such a war. No dream walker has ever been so heartless.”

  I smiled and let the dangling pup go. My sword appeared in my hand once more. I took in a breath and blew the pups far, far away. I guess even knowing they aren’t real I couldn’t bring myself to hurt the young, but now there was only me and the alpha. This I could easily do.

  “Your sons attacked my family. They scared them. They tried to kill them. You think I am too soft to do what I have said, but you misjudge. I know that the only way to beat monsters like you is to become as depraved and mad as you are. Trust me, if you doubt my resolve, then you should forget about the fact that I am a dream walker, and just r
emember that I am a husband, and a father. You could not fathom what I will do to keep my family safe from ever seeing your kind. You have plagued me since I was four years old. Now, it is I who will scourge you. Your reign of terror is over. Now choose, will you make the oath, or do I cut you all down like the miserable mongrels you are?”

  Kuwam’s hand trembled. He reached out for his red sword and picked it up. For a moment, I thought he was set on fighting, but at last he knelt on the ground and bowed his head.

  “So long as you let us live, I will make the oath, dream walker.”

  I nodded. “So long as you make the oath, you have my word that I will not attack your people, but if any of you come to my world again, I will come back to exact my vengeance.”

  Kuwam snarled and then nodded. “I make an oath: Upon my sword I swear that neither I, nor any of my kin, nor any of my subjects, shall come to your world, either in dreams, or through the portals. I swear to uphold the peace, upon my life, and that of all my kin.”

  I smiled and then left the dream, turning and walking away as easily as if there were a door between that place and my room back in Washington.

  When I opened my physical eyes, the red sword was gone.

  I walked to meet Indyrith in the main hall.

  “It’s done,” I said. “Drendarin’s instructions worked.”

  “Well, that should make Rolf’s job a bit easier,” Indyrith replied with a bow of his head. “You have become quite powerful, Joshua Mills.”

  “Well, the better to help the little people with, am I right?”

  Indyrith nodded. “What will you do now?”

  I smiled and patted an envelope that was in my pants pocket. “Actually, I thought I might take a flight.”

  “When will you come back?” Indyrith asked.

  “Soon, I think. There’s just something I need to do.”

  *****

  I took a flight from Sea-Tac airport to Salt Lake International the next day. I rented a car and drove to my mother-in-law’s house. I found Susan and Tommy playing in the front yard, splashing in a small plastic pool. I stopped at the edge of the driveway and just watched them for a few moments. Her smile was the most beautiful thing I had seen in so long, I almost turned around to run away, but the longer I watched, the more it felt right. I exited the car and started walking toward them.

  “Daddy!” Tommy shouted. He wiggled away from his mother and did his funny little toddler run through the grass. I picked him up and squished him in a big hug as water drenched the front of me from his swimsuit. His little hands grabbed each of my cheeks and pulled my head to the side so he could give me a big, smacking kiss on the cheek.

  “I love you, little man,” I said.

  “I’m not a man!” Tommy said. “I’m a boy!”

  I smiled wider, just happy to be holding him once again.

  “Hello Josh,” Susan said as she walked up to me. She was standing there with her arms folded across her chest. Her face was a mix of emotions that I couldn’t quite read. “It’s been weeks since they let you out, and I haven’t heard from you at all.”

  “I tried to call,” I said. “Did Jill tell you?”

  “No.” Susan said flatly.

  “I’ve missed you,” I said. Tears filled her eyes and her arms opened up. We each took a step forward and grabbed each other in a tight embrace. “I love you, Suzie.”

  “I love you too, Josh,” she said. She then pushed me away gently and wiped tears from her eyes. “Look, I know we both thought it was best to divorce while you were on trial…”

  My heart skipped and I smiled wide. Finally, I was about to win my family back.

  She shook her head and folded her arms again. She looked down at Tommy. “Go back in the pool, we’ll be right there,” she said.

  “Okay mommy,” Tommy said as he toddled away. “Watch me jump!”

  “Okay,” she said. We watched as Tommy flopped into the pool and splashed a good amount of water out.

  “He’s so beautiful,” I said. “Like his mother.”

  “Josh, I still think we need time apart.”

  What?

  “I thought that if they released you, we could make things work, but it’s been hard for me here. People still talk…”

  “Let them talk,” I said. “I didn’t do anything wrong. You know me, Suzie. I didn’t hurt my dad. I mean, as a kid I would have loved to slug the punk across the face, but I didn’t touch him. We went to dinner, we left, and we got jumped in the alleyway, that’s all.”

  “I know,” she said.

  “Then what is it?”

  “It isn’t about me, and it isn’t even you,” she said. “It’s Tommy. How will people treat him if we get back together? How will kids at school treat him? How will future employers treat the son of a man accused of murdering his own father?”

  “Screw ‘em,” I said quickly. “Let’s go somewhere else. We can move.”

  “It was national news,” Susan said. “Where will we go so that someone doesn’t recognize you?”

  I looked at Tommy and sighed. My hopes were crushed. “So, what are you saying exactly?”

  “I’m just saying that I need more time. Let me see how things go here. His grandma is here, so are his aunts and uncles. I don’t want Tommy to lose all of them while we go in hiding.”

  “I…” I didn’t know what to say. “If you change your mind, I will always wait for you, Suzie.”

  Susan wiped tears from her eyes and nodded. “Look, don’t worry about alimony or anything. I know it will be hard for you to find work now. We’ll be all right. Send extra if you have it, but don’t stretch.” I stepped in and kissed her long and hard. She returned the kiss and wrapped her hands around my neck. As I stepped back, I gave her one more soft kiss and then reached into my pocket.

  “Actually, I found good work,” I said. I handed her the envelope. “How about, we just agree to wait six months. I’ll call you then, and we’ll see how things are.”

  “Okay,” Susan said.

  “I’m only a phone call away though. From now on, if you or Tommy need anything, I’ll come running.” I pointed to the envelope. “That should cover things from the time I left for Dallas up until now. I’ll be sending checks regularly too. Even if in six months you think it’s still too hard to make it work, I’ll always be there for you both. No matter what. I love you.”

  “I love you too, Josh.”

  I turned and left then. Got back in the car and drove away. I was on my way to the airport, but then I saw Carter’s BMW parked outside the local gym and I had to stop.

  I should have known better than to book my ticket for a Tuesday.

  Anyway, I parked next to his car. I couldn’t help myself. I keyed the crap out of it, and I let the air out of his tires. If I had stopped there, I probably would have gotten away with it all, and then I wouldn’t be sitting here writing this really, really long statement, but, I didn’t stop there. I took off my shoes and wadded up my socks and stuffed them up the tailpipe. Carter came out, saw me messing with his car, and started shouting and cursing at me. I stood up and he ran back into the gym, pulling out his phone on the way inside.

  A patrol car just happened to be across the street at the gas station, so there wasn’t any time for me to get out of there. That’s it. That’s the truth, the whole truth. So help me God.

  CHAPTER 22

  I sit back in the uncomfortable chair and watch as the older detective reads through my statement. He laughs at several points, and mumbles as he shows other parts to his partner. I’ll give him credit for reading several pages before slapping the papers down on the table and rubbing the sides of his nose.

  “You expect me to believe any of this garbage?” he asks.

  I shrug and wiggle my wrists in the cuffs. “I’ll make a deal with you,” I begin. “I can visit you in your dreams tonight if you doubt me. You see me in your dreams, you let me go, no questions asked.”

  “This is ridiculous,” the sha
ggy haired partner says. “He’s just trying to go for the insanity angle this time. He knows if he’s caught harassing his ex-wife’s boyfriend that we’ll be all over him. I’m not playing his game.”

  “Carter is not her boyfriend,” I say. “If you had read the whole statement, you would have seen that they had a whole discussion about that.”

  “Oh why me?” the gray haired detective asks. “It’s Tuesday, why do we have to catch the weird ones on Tuesday?”

  “See?!” I say excitedly. “Tuesdays suck!”

  “No!” the shaggy-haired detective says as he slaps the table. “Your story sucks. I get it, you’re pissed cause your wife left you after you murdered your dad and you want to scare off her boyfriend, but you can’t do stuff like this. Jill already called us too, that’s why the patrol car was so close. It’s not like the officer was at the gas station or something.”

  “Actually…” I start to refute him, but then decide not to bother.

  “So what happens now?” the senior detective asks. “Some big agent in a dark suit named Briggs comes in and tells us to let you go, is that it?”

  I shrug.

  “I’ll give him five minutes,” the shaggy-haired detective says. “Five minutes, and then I’m locking your sorry, pathetic carcass in a cell, and I’m gonna throw away the key. We have enough to hold you for—”